More California Dreamin’

by digby

LOS ANGELES – Rudy Giuliani expects a plum endorsement this week from one of California’s leading Republicans, former Gov. Pete Wilson.

The Republican presidential candidate and former New York mayor planned to announce Wilson’s support at a news conference Thursday in Santa Monica, according to several people with knowledge of the endorsement. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Wilson’s stamp of approval will bring together two Republicans who served as big-city mayors and occupy similar political terrain.

Both are known for being able to draw votes from across party lines, and blend moderate social views on issues like abortion with conservative thinking on the economy and national defense.

Of course Wilson destroyed the California Republican party for a decade with his anti-immigrant Proposition 187. We’ll see if Rudy can thread that needle better than he did.

Update: From Calitics:

In what can only be described as yet another dirty trick, the campaign pushing the initiative to steal California’s electoral votes disclosed its main donor in a campaign finance report earlier this week. The lone $175,000 donor was attributed to a Missouri based company called Take Initiative America (T.I.A). The only name we have is Charles A. Hurth III, an attorney in the small town Union, MO and big donor to Rudy Giuliani’s campaign.

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